Agrium, Barrick, EnCana, Magna, Talisman: Canada Stock Preview

By John Kipphoff and Whitney Kisling

Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may have unusual price changes in Canadian trading today. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are from yesterday's close in Toronto.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index fell 0.4 percent to 9,721.26.

Brokerages may be active on expectations they will report lower earnings. Canaccord Capital Inc. (CCI CN) and GMP Capital Trust (GMP-U CN), Canada's two biggest independent brokerages, will probably post quarterly profit declines on Nov. 6, analysts' predicted, after stock sales and mergers dried up amid a global financial crisis. Canaccord added 1 percent to C$6.10. GMP shares gained 3.1 percent to C$5.26.

Energy and precious metals producers may be active after oil rallied more than $1 a barrel in electronic trading in New York and gold appreciated in London. EnCana Corp. (ECA CN) fell 4.5 percent to C$58.50. Suncor Energy Inc. (SU CN) dropped 6.2 percent to C$27.17. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ CN) declined 5.4 percent to C$57.51. Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX CN) slid 4.5 percent to C$26.32. Goldcorp Inc. (G CN) retreated 1.6 percent to C$22.17. Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI CN) slumped 5.9 percent to C$5.41.

Agrium Inc. (AGU CN): North America's third-largest fertilizer company was raised to ``buy'' from ``hold'' at Citigroup Inc., which also upgraded rival fertilizer companies CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF US) and Terra Industries Inc. (TRA US). Agrium shares fell 3.2 percent to C$44.70.

Enghouse Systems Ltd. (ESL CN): The Canadian software developer that's lost 29 percent of its value this year plans to buy back as much as 10 percent of shares. The stock declined 0.2 percent to C$5.29.

Inca Pacific Resources Inc. (IPR CN): The Canadian mineral- exploration company will delay its $400 million (C$467.2 million) Magistral copper and molybdenum mine in Peru because of financing difficulties, Chief Executive Officer Anthony Floyd said. The shares slumped 4.4 percent to 22 cents.

MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates Ltd. (MDA CN): The space technology and software company won a contract worth about C$4.1 million ($3.5 million) to expand support to Canada's Navy Maritime Command Operational Information Network system. The shares slid 2.9 percent to C$21.

Magna International Inc. (MG/A CN): North America's largest auto-parts maker reported a third-quarter loss of $215 million, compared with a year-earlier profit of $155 million, and cut the dividend in half, after U.S. sales declined and it wrote down the value of assets and restructured parts of the business.

Excluding one-time items, Magna posted a profit of 17 cents a share, missing the 91 cents average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The shares added 1.4 percent to C$41.

Open Text Corp. (OTC CN): The maker of networking software posted fiscal first-quarter profit excluding some one-time items of 53 cents, beating the average analyst estimate by 6.2 percent, according to Bloomberg data. The shares rose 4.7 percent to C$32.

Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM CN): The oil and natural-gas producer said that third-quarter profit more than quadrupled to C$1.43 billion, or C$1.38 a share, from C$352 million, on record crude-oil prices and a gain on commodities contracts.

Profit excluding one-time gains and costs rose to 72 cents a share from 25 cents a year earlier. On that basis, the company was expected to earn 76 cents a share, the average of analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg. The shares fell 2.1 percent to C$11.66.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Kipphoff in Toronto at jkipphoff@bloomberg.net; Whitney Kisling in New York at wkisling@bloomberg.net